Useful tips on becoming a numismatist

A numismatist is a collector of coins, so if you have found some old coins and you want to get into the collection of more old coins, we will introduce the activity of the numismatist and give you some tips to help you start your collection well.

Study the coins

The biggest work of the numismatist is the study and the search for information on the coins that he wishes to collect. The study and the search for information are very important if you have found old coins. It will indeed be necessary that you start by doing research in order to find a maximum of information on the coins which you have found.

This type of research is part of the basic work of numismatics and is done mainly in history books and libraries. It is a question of starting by situating the historical period when the coin was struck or put into circulation. To do this you must study the faces of the coin, the symbols or characters that appear and its inscriptions. This information should allow you to easily identify your coin by knowing which part of the world it came from and when it was struck.

Evaluate the value of the coin

Evaluating the value of the coin is the second operation, and to do so he uses catalogs and specialized magazines. You will find several catalogs or specialized magazines that will help you to evaluate most common coins. On the other hand if your coin or your coins are little less common, you will have to make long research to find their values.

But to find the value of a coin, the numismatist has several sources of information. There are for example on the internet, many sources of information that you can use to know the value of a coin. We advise you to start with specialized sites, which will give you a lot of information, but these sites also have very complete forums that will help you to find all the information you need to evaluate your coins.

However, if after all this research, you are unable to evaluate the value of your coin, there are still specialized shops that usually do expertise. The experts you will find there will certainly be able to give you an idea on ??the value of your coin.

Specialize on a period and on a coin type

If you want to become a numismatist, know that it will be much easier to specialize in a particular type of currency, rather than pick up all the coins you will find. The most valuable coins are of course the precious metal coins, but be careful, for a numismatist the value of a coin does not only rely on its weight in gold. The scarcity of the coin is indeed very important, but also its state of preservation. A scratched and damaged part will lose value and will therefore be discounted at the time of resale. Talking about selling them, there do exist many shops that are specialized in foreign coins and old bills exchange which will readily buy your coins.